If you’ve ever hit a wall where you can’t unlock the new story quest, domain, or character banner you’ve been waiting for, you already know how frustrating slow progression can be. Figuring out how to level up in Genshin Impact doesn’t have to mean spending 8 hours a day grinding meaningless tasks, either. I’ve put hundreds of hours into the game across three accounts, including a free-to-play alt I leveled to AR 50 in just 3 months, so I’ve tested every trick in the book to cut down on grind while still raising my Adventure Rank (AR) faster than most casual players. This guide skips the generic advice you’ve seen a hundred times and focuses on actionable steps that actually move the needle for both new and returning players.
How to Level Up in Genshin Impact: Prioritize Adventure Rank EXP First
A lot of new players mix up character levels with account progression, and that’s one of the easiest mistakes to make when you first start playing. Adventure Rank (AR) is the only progression metric that unlocks all core game content, from new story chapters and higher-difficulty domains to limited-time events and character ascension caps. You can’t level a character to 90 if you’re stuck at AR 35, no matter how many upgrade materials you hoard, so AR EXP should always be your first priority.
Many players waste weeks grinding character levels and artifacts when they’re below AR 45, not realizing that higher AR levels unlock better quality drops for all of those resources. If you’re looking for steady progress when learning how to level up in Genshin Impact, these daily and weekly tasks are the foundation of your routine. Focus on moving your AR up first, and everything else will fall into place much faster.
Optimize Daily and Weekly Tasks for Maximum Progression
You don’t have to spend hours playing every day to make consistent progress. The highest-return tasks in the game take less than 20 minutes to complete, and skipping them means throwing away free progression. Never skip your 4 daily commissions if you want consistent, low-effort progression — they only take 10 minutes to finish, and the reward from Katheryne after you turn them in gives 1,200 AR EXP every single day, plus primogems you can use for wishes.
Resin management is another non-negotiable part of fast progression. Resin caps at 160, and regenerates one point every 8 minutes, so you lose out on progression if you let it sit full for hours. You don’t have to log in every 21 hours to use it up, but try to spend it at least once a day if you can. To make it even easier, here’s the order of priority I use for daily and weekly tasks to get the most AR EXP per minute spent:
So many players ignore the Serenitea Pot, but it gives you free resin refills every week once you hit trust rank 8, which adds up to hours of extra progression every month. It takes 10 minutes a week to collect your rewards and place new furniture, so it’s well worth the small time investment.
Use World Exploration to Cut Down on Grind
When you run out of story quests and daily tasks and you’re still a few hundred AR EXP away from the next level, don’t waste all your resin spamming ley line blossoms. Exploration is one of the most underrated tricks for anyone learning how to level up in Genshin Impact, and it’s free to do no matter how much resin you have left. Every chest you open, waypoint you unlock, and Statue of The Seven you level up gives you AR EXP, plus primogems and upgrade materials you can use later.
Common chests give 10 AR EXP, precious chests give 30, and luxurious chests give up to 60 AR EXP, plus extra primogems and upgrade materials. I once went from AR 42 to AR 45 in 2 days just by exploring Sumeru’s rainforest when I ran out of story quests, no extra resin or real money spent at all. World quests are even better, with some giving up to 2,000 AR EXP for just an hour of play, plus permanent rewards like extra stamina or access to hidden domains.
You don’t have to 100% every region if you don’t want to, even just exploring the areas you find fun will give you more than enough extra AR EXP to skip past those annoying progression walls. If you get bored of running around, you can also hunt down Shrines of Depths, which give 60 AR EXP plus a luxurious chest every time you open one.
Level Your Characters and Gear Strategically to Avoid Wasting Resources
Once you hit the AR you need to unlock the content you want, you don’t want to waste all the resources you earned leveling characters you’ll never use. I made this mistake when I first started playing, leveling every 4-star character I pulled to level 50, and I didn’t have enough mora to level my main Diluc past 60 for weeks. Don’t do that. Never level a character past their current ascension cap unless you plan to use them regularly in your main team.
Leveling a character from 1 to 90 costs over 2 million mora and hundreds of upgrade materials, so spreading those resources thin will make your team weaker overall. You only need 4 main team characters leveled to clear 99% of the game’s content, plus 2 or 3 niche supports for specific domains or spiral abyss floors if you want to tackle endgame content. Talent levels matter far more than character levels for damage output, too, so prioritize leveling your main DPS’s talents first before you max their character level.
For artifacts, don’t waste mora upgrading 3-star or 4-star artifacts past level 16 if you’re AR 45 or higher. At AR 45, every domain run guarantees a 5-star artifact, so you’ll end up replacing all those lower-star pieces very quickly anyway. Save your mora for 5-star pieces that fit your main team’s build, and you’ll have a much stronger team with far less grind.
At the end of the day, figuring out how to level up in Genshin Impact is all about working smarter, not harder. You don’t have to play 4 hours a day to hit AR 60 or clear all endgame content, you just need to prioritize the tasks that give the highest return for your time. Feel free to take breaks to explore or mess around with fun character builds when you want, too — the game is supposed to be enjoyable, not a second job. If you stick to the tips we covered, you’ll unlock all the content you want way faster than you thought possible.